By Filipe Freitas
Name: David Arend
Instrument: bass
Style: contemporary jazz, modern classical, post-bop
Album Highlights: Astral Travels (Nanova Records, 2015), Further Exploration with Alchemy Sound Project (ARC, 2016), Afrika Love with Alchemy Sound Project (ARC, 2021)
Can you talk about how the Alchemy Sound Project started?
The core composers in Alchemy Sound Project coalesced as a result of meeting one another at the Jazz Composers Orchestra Institute (JCOI) in Los Angeles, a program designed by the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University and the American Composers Orchestra. Pianist-composer Sumi Tonooka suggested we form a group and carry forward ideas presented at JCOI. So we planned and recorded our first album, Further Explorations, which consists of two compositions each from five composers, ten new compositions in all. We have now released three albums containing a total of 21 compositions.
I recognize something spiritual in the group’s music. Is that what you guys want to convey?
I'm sure each band member would have their own way of answering this but the short answer is absolutely yes. The roots of jazz are deeply spiritual, it is in the DNA of jazz. Each of us connects to the heritage of jazz in our own ways and I feel this group is very spiritually-minded. Of course there is an intellectual component to the experiments we do with composition and one thing we strive for is to blur the lines between what is composed and what is improvised. But I think what drives us on a deeper level is the journey of the spirit, the yearning to express, to connect and to communicate. And the humility one feels in the presence of something indescribable that is much larger, something universal - this is an element of spirituality that we are aware of in our work.
Each record includes two guest artists: a trombonist and a drummer. Who chooses them?
We collectively know many musicians we can invite to collaborate. The location of where we make a recording is important in determining personnel - our band members are spread out across the US and we also have one living in South Africa. The first album was recorded near Seattle, WA so we invited two jazz musicians who were based there at the time. The second and third albums were recorded near Philadelphia, PA and so we turned to musicians based in the region of New Jersey, New York and Philly.
You worked with Ornette Coleman. Can you tell us how it happened and how rich the experience was for you?
Working with Ornette Coleman was the thrill of a lifetime. I was a graduate student in classical double bass at The Juilliard School and their new music ensemble was collaborating with Ornette. I had auditioned for the ensemble and fortunately got placed in one of the pieces written by Ornette. I recall rehearsing his piece at school and becoming aware that someone was watching me. I looked over my shoulder and there was Ornette standing beside me, he had come to observe the rehearsal. He watched me play for a few seconds, then reached up to my music stand, pulled the sheet music right off of the stand and said "You don't need to look at this. Just play what you feel and play in double time." It was very empowering. We recorded the piece some time later at his Harmolodic Studio and Ornette took me aside during the session to tell me I played beautifully. My heart nearly exploded! The experience gave me confidence to believe in myself and my playing, while also being humble. Ornette was so humble and kind, a gentle and loving human being.
Can you list some of your favorite jazz records?
I'll just name a few that have made a big impact on my development as a bassist and composer. I still love listening to these records!
Charles Mingus - his entire catalog is mind-bending but the first Mingus I heard was Mingus Ah Um and that's a great place to start. Back in my Juilliard days (mid-1990's) I would rollerblade around New York City with my walkman playing a cassette tape that had Let My Children Hear Music on one side and Pithecanthropus Erectus on the other. That music served as wonderful accompaniment to the pitch and swell of the city.
Billie Holiday - Solitude
Billie is my favorite singer, she absolutely oozed humanity. Suffering, love, regret, betrayal, hope, it's all there.
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come
This opened my thinking to a different way of structuring composition and improvisation. Charlie Haden's bass playing showed that contours and shapes are just as important as harmony.
Bill Evans - Explorations
One of the great jazz trios, and the bass playing of Scott LaFaro was very special. Scott's concept was so conversational and he struck a wonderful balance between virtuosic flights of fancy and deep, fundamental bass playing.
John Coltrane - Transition
This album captures the great quartet as they evolved from their classic approach toward free jazz. As far as the bass, Jimmy Garrison was one of those role players who worked in a subtle manner that provided support for everything swirling around him.
Keith Jarrett - Expectations
I remember hearing this for the first time back in college and being transformed by the sheer joy of the music-making.
Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock - 1+1
I love everything I've heard from Wayne and Herbie, both together and apart. This album is special because it is just the two of them and their playing here feels like chamber music. The space and atmosphere they create is colorful and intimate.
There are so many others: Duke Ellington, Ray Brown with Oscar Peterson, Pat Metheny and on and on.
What about some non-jazz records?
Thundercat is an amazing bassist and composer. It Is What It Is is what it is. Actually I think of him as a jazz artist but he paints way outside the lines and across genres.
Anything by the Berlin Philharmonic. They've been the pinnacle of great orchestral playing for many decades now. One fun aspect of listening to classical music is comparing interpretations of the same piece by different conductors and orchestras in various eras. It's an endless adventure.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Schoenberg - Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night)
This recording also has the Schoenberg Chamber Symphonies
Carlos Kleiber conducting the Vienna Philharmonic
Anything they did together was great; check out their Beethoven Symphony No. 5.
Tom Zé - Brazil Classics Vol. 5: The Hips of Tradition
I loved listening to this back in college and it still sounds fresh and slightly wacky to me now.
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Can you point out two persons, musicians or not, who influenced you the most as an artist/bassist?
The elderly piano teacher I had when I was 13. I brought a book of Scott Joplin rags to her and she electrified me with her interpretation. I was awestruck! She was playing what was written and also was improvising, and my mind was completely blown. She showed me that music is magical. I've been chasing that moment ever since.
Eugene Levinson, former principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic. The first time I heard him play solo bass in a master class my heart leapt out of my chest. He had such a gorgeous and expressive sound. I went on to study classical bass with him at The Juilliard School and he made a tremendous impact on my concept of string playing and my artistry.
Can you name two musicians whom you’ve never collaborated with but you’d like to?
I recently moved to Los Angeles and there is a pianist living there named Billy Childs. I saw him perform a short piano concerto he composed for the LA Philharmonic's new music series and I also caught one of his shows with a jazz combo and string quartet. His writing and playing really resonate with me. I am hoping to meet him and if possible collaborate with him someday.
I would give just about anything to work with Wayne Shorter!
What would you have been if you weren’t a musician?
Possibly a physicist or engineer. I have always enjoyed mathematics, puzzles and problem-solving. Part of what I love about composition is that one creates miniature worlds that have their own logic. The relationships between notes and how they progress through time can be viewed mathematically as well as emotionally and this is why I feel music is the perfect field, a complete field.
Projects for the near future?
I am working on building repertoire for a double bass quartet or quintet. I love the sound of the bass, so why not four or five of them?
I'd like to form a jazz combo in Los Angeles. I am relatively new to town so I still have to meet people and find my team. Then I would write for them.
I want to continue to contribute to the modern classical repertoire. I think I may write a duo for violin and double bass, and I'd like to write a string quintet (quartet plus bass). I've also written bass duets and would like to compose some more of those.